The SNCF paid dearly for the very hard strike against the pension reform in December, ending the year 2019 in red when the first eleven months had been "very dynamic", with a strong increase in turnover. The public group published Friday a net loss of 801 million euros in 2019, against a profit of 141 million a year earlier. The 27-day strike in December cost around 690 million euros in lost revenue and 614 million operating margins (equivalent to operating profit).
Accounting effects weigh on net income
Significant accounting effects weighed on the bottom line. Without these effects, the "recurring net result" put forward by management remains negative, at -301 million euros. The difference is mainly explained this year by an impairment of deferred tax assets, an accounting transaction linked to the decrease in the future tax base. Excluding the effect of the strike in December, the "recurring net result" would be positive, at +313 million euros, notes management.
The group's turnover increased by 5.1% to 35.1 billion euros driven by the dynamism of the railway activities and of the public transport subsidiary Keolis. And if the two strikes of 2018 and 2019 had not taken place, growth would have been 4.5%, insists management. The operating margin increased sharply to 5.6 billion euros, the negative effects of the strike having been more than offset by significant gains in competitiveness and especially thanks to the adoption of the accounting standard IRFS16, which in turn alone saves a billion euros in the line of accounts.